There is a need for improved polymeric materials that are highly permeable, yet may under certain circumstances, provide selective separation of various gas combinations. Such materials would especially be useful in commercial, non-cryogenic gas separation processes.
The commercial application for gas separation devices based on polymeric materials relies, in part, on maximizing the overall gas flux through the membrane. P. H. Kim, et al., J. Appl. Poly. Sci., 34 1761 (1987), reported that the gas flux for a membrane is relatable to the average space between the polymer chains. In addition, they indicated that the density of the polymer is also related to the overall gas flux. The problem, in part, for these commercial applications is to identify polymers with very high flux and with good thermo-mechanical properties. It has generally been observed that to achieve high overall flux requires having a polymer with low chain-chain interactions. This can be exemplified by polymers such as poly(dimethylsiloxane) or poly(4-methyl-1-pentene). These materials have rather high gas flux values. These high flux materials have, because of their low chain-chain interaction, low glass transition temperatures (Tg). As a consequence, these materials require either special processing conditions to build in chemical and physiochemical crosslinking or they can be used only at rather low application temperatures. By contrast, polymers with strong chain-chain interactions have rather high Tg values and have usually exhibited rather low gas flux.
Polyimides, which generally have strong chain-chain interactions and have high Tg values, have been reported to have good gas flux values for certain specific structures. Specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 3,822,202 (1974); Re 30,351 (1980) discloses a process for separating fluids using a semipermeable membrane made from polyimides, polyesters or polyamides. The repeating units of the main polymer chain of these membranes are distinguished in that such repeating units have at least one rigid divalent subunit, the two main chain single bonds extending from which are not colinear, is sterically unable to rotate 360.degree. around at least one of these bonds, and has 50% or more of its main chain atoms as members of aromatic rings.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,705,540 discloses a highly permeable aromatic polyimide gas separation membrane and processes for using said membrane. The membrane is an aromatic polyimide membrane in which the phenylenediamines are rigid and are substituted on essentially all of the positions ortho to the amino substituents, and the acid anhydride groups are essentially all attached to rigid aromatic moieties.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,717,393 and 4,717,394 teach polymeric membranes and processes using the membranes for separating components of the gas mixture. The membranes disclosed in both of these patents are semi-flexible, aromatic polyimides, prepared by polycondensation of dianhydrides with phenylenediamines having alkyl substituents on all ortho positions to the amine functions, or with mixtures of other, non-alkylated diamines, some components have substituents on all positions ortho to the amine functions. It is taught that the membranes formed from this class of polyimides exhibit improved environmental stability and gas permeability, due to the optimization of the molecular free volume in the polymer. It is also taught that such membranes can be photochemically crosslinked, which in some instances results in a better performing membrane.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,378,400 discloses gas separation membranes formed from aromatic polyimides based upon biphenyltetracarboxylic dianhydride for separating various gas mixtures.
Additionally, attempts have been made to synthesize membranes having high flux and high selectivity by creating a composite structure on the polymeric membrane surface by means of a chemical reaction between a labile function in the polymer and some "activating force". Such methods are taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,657,564 wherein poly(1-trimethylsilylpropyne) is treated with a dilute fluorine gas stream and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,393 wherein a polyimide containing a benzophenone-containing linking group is irradiated with a medium pressure mercury lamp.